A bus driver in New Jersey has been fired for leaving a 3-year-old on the bus at night.

Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images

A bus driver was fired when he left a 3-year-old boy on the bus this week. The bus driver is accused of leaving him there for more than five hours in freezing weather. According to a report from Wednesday (Jan. 29), the Franklin Township School District hasn't taken this occurrence lightly. The good news is that the mother reports her son is fine now after she went to pick him up.

An investigation is underway about why or how the driver could have left the child on the bus nearly all day. Mishiloh Akturk said that she put her son on the bus at about 8 a.m. so that he could head off to Franklin Park School. She had no idea that there was a problem until she received a phone call while waiting at the bus stop for her child to return. It was at that point where the transportation office told her that her son hadn't even made it to school.

Speaking about the incident, she stated, "Thank God I bundled him with layers and his hat and gloves. He sat on that bus for five-plus hours. He could have died. He could have frozen to death. The EMT was there and checked him out. He seems fine. He’s was happy and eating his lunch when I got there. Everything seems OK right now. He’s a real trooper.”

As for the driver, he was fired on the spot for this incident, despite being called one of the most punctual employees on the staff. Ignoring a buzzer designed to remind him to check the bus cost him the job and could have been much worse if the child hadn't been dressed warm.